


Love & War

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Extended Scene, F/M, Lost Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 13:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7846282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the last day before his departure, Hewlett and Andre share brief stories of lost love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love & War

**Author's Note:**

> Set during 3x09 as an extension of the scene between Hewlett and Andre, because I can totally imagine them talking about past and lost loves, as it is something them seem to share.

“Abigail, yes?”

The woman at the door looked surprised to see him. Hewlett however, was not surprised to see her. He remembered her from when she used to live in Setauket and she knew she had been sent to Major Andre some time ago, at least a year. “Major Hewlett... I'm surprised you remember me.”

“I do remember; both you and your boy, Cicero.” He replied in a solemn and quiet tone. “I have come to see Major Andre and was told this was his residence.”

“Yes, it is- Come in and I'll see if he's available.” She gave him a tiny smile.

“Thank you.”

Hewlett followed her into the building, watching quietly as Abigail closed the door and went over into another room. This is the first time he had been here, never having the pleasure before of being in the residence of John Andre. He'd thought that during the past month he was in the city, Andre would have recognized his presence and extended an invitation. None ever came of course, not much to Hewlett's surprised.

While he waited to see Andre, he heard Abigail speaking from the room she had gone into.

“...a caller, sir.”

“No, send them away-” Andre spoke.

“It's Major Hewlett, sir.”

“Who?”

 _'What do you mean 'who'? I've sent you correspondence before!'_ Hewlett thought bitterly

“Major Hewlett, sir, of Setauket.”

A pause, then a sigh. “I don't have time for this.”

“Sir-”

Hewlett then stepped forward into the room and then announced his presence, saving Abigail the trouble of having to go on with that line of conversation. Andre acknowledged his presence once Hewlett said that he only needed a moment of his time.

“My apologies, Edward.” Andre said as Abigail left the room. “I didn't know you were in York City.”

He kept a straight face despite the incorrectness of the name he was called. It only added more to his frustration, but Hewlett was too tired to care. “It's 'Edmund'.” He corrected, going to close the door. “And I've been in the city for over a month now.” 

Andre brushed that off and explained that they needed to make this conversation quick, as he apparently had somewhere more important to be. Hewlett didn't bother asking. Instead he said that he too was leaving. There was a ship leaving for England the next morning and he would be departing on it. In the meantime, he had some final preparations to attend to, but there was something more pressing that he had to tell Andre first.

Hewlett sat down in a chair by the small table and poured himself a drink. He gave one last warning about Simcoe to Andre, though he doubted the other man would listen to his concerns. That he used to go into his real purpose in coming here. Of course Andre immediately became interested once he mentioned rebel spies, asking why he had only come forth now if he had been in the city for over a month with this information.

He would not go into the true reasons, but he gave an answer regardless. Andre never extended and invitation to him nor had he ever listened. Hewlett didn't expect him too, but felt that he had to give up the information on rebel spies that he held. It would be the last thing he did as part of the army he had served.

Everything else had been taken from him, but he could at least do this and retain the only sense of honor and duty he had left.

He told Andre the true name of Culper, not caring what kind of ripple effect this would have. He didn't care anymore.

And yet he kept his former flame's name out of it; a secret he would carry unspoken for her sake despite what he now knew about her.

His eyes shifted to the glass he had set down, giving a sigh. He rose from the chair, intending to leave, when Andre spoke again.

“Edmund, thank you for bringing this information to me.” He said with a charismatic smile. “If I may ask though, what brought you to the city in the first place?”

The former Major flinched. That kind of question brought back the cold memory of the wedding-that-wasn't. It lead back to that day, and to Anna as well; it was the source of why he was here.

“...I resigned. I did so after my.... What was supposed to be my wedding...” He gave as an answer, his eyes blankly staring ahead at the wall behind Andre.

Andre studied him for a moment, his smile faltering and turning into a sad one. “A broken heart?”

Hewlett nodded. “Someone who I thought was my friend objected, and then the truth came out. She had forged her divorce papers, and she proceed to humiliate me. I thought... I thought she had loved me, as I loved her. But I guess it wasn't meant to be, and I misunderstood.”

“You poor fellow. Who was she?”

He hesitated. Spy she may be, he didn't want Andre knowing her name. He couldn't bring himself to say. “I'd rather not say- speaking her name brings back memories which are now painful to me. But she was many things; beautiful, smart, strong, brave. I loved her so much...” The image of her smiling face came back to his mind and he pushed it away. “After the wedding, seeing as there was nothing left for me in Setuaket, I left and came here to wait here for the next available passage to England.”

“Sounds like you've had a rough time.” Andre reached forward for the glass bottle and poured Hewlett another glass, handing it to him. “You sound like you fell hard for this woman.”

“I did, if I'm being honest.” Hewlett replied, pausing to take a sip of his drink. “I haven't had much luck when it comes to women. There were few before her, but... they all disregarded me ether because I wasn't what they wanted or they grew bored of me. I have held feelings for those past women who turned me away, but none as strong as this time. I thought, maybe this time, someone finally decided to stay...”

He, in the few relationships he had been in, which never really got that far, craved a more personal or romantic connection. He knew he wasn't exactly what a woman might want- awkward when even talking to women, barely considered tall, a bit of a pale complexion- but he had hoped someone might take him as he was, notice and understand him, and he could obtain such a connection with them. He cared about that more than anything else.

The first one though was the one who prompted the seed of insecurity to grow in him. The first woman he really felt anything for, someone he thought showed interest in him, had left suddenly, bored of him and his long talks about the classics and astronomy, mocking him for it. After a couple more that had also left his heart fractured, that insecurity that been rooted into him. It was just as well his lack of experience with women was another fault they found with him.

Just when he thought that he had someone who could make him feel happy and understood him, he was proven wrong and they would leave. He'd withdraw into himself as a result; his mind a flurry of whys and doubt until he could move on into the day.

Anna had been no exception, though how he felt about her had been vastly different. He felt alive with her, and being with her was the most wonderful feeling in the world. He treasured her and loved her like the stars that shone in the heavens, but she too had left him, used him in a game. He was tired of it all.

He wanted someone to stay; that's all he really wanted.

“All is fair in love and war.” Andre commented. “I can understand what you have gone through.”

Hewlett looked at Andre, puzzled. “You do?”

“Yes.” There grew a distant look in his eyes, like recalling the face of someone he had cherished. “I met a woman, in Philadelphia. Have you ever heard of a woman named Margret Shippen? She goes by Peggy.”

“No, I don't believe I have.” Having stayed in Setauket for the past few years, he hardly got outside the town, and news was always a bit slow to reach the area.

“Your mysterious lover reminds me of her. Peggy too is a very beautiful woman; strong and confident.”

“She sounds so.”

Andre chuckled sadly. “I was in love with her, or rather, I still am. I had to leave her behind in Philadelphia and... I have only recently found out she married someone I wanted to recruit to our forces.”

Hewlett felt sympathy for Andre, as he could relate to the sense of betrayal. “That's unfortunate...”

Andre nodded. “I have been with women before; nothing permanent of course, but Peggy was different from them, and I loved her so much. These kinds of things seem to be only casualties inflicted unto ourselves. It's a sad and tragic tale.”

Hewlett could agree with what Andre was saying. It seemed they both had been thrown for a loop and left behind by people who they had both loved. They shared these kinds of tales, and they both shared this kind of loss.

“Yes;” Hewlett agreed. “Yes it is.”

Andre waited till Hewlett finished the rest of his drink to speak. “Now, as I've mentioned I do have something important to attend to and I really must make preparations for my departure. I'll draft up a letter containing your information and send it off.”

“Thank you.” Hewlett said, though it did little to lift his spirits. “God save the King.”

And then Hewlett set the glass down, turned, and left the house, still carrying a heavy, yet broken heart.

 


End file.
